Seagate Barracuda 2TB Hard Drive (3.5" SATA III) (ST2000DM001) Review
Review: 5/5
2TB Very
Fast for HD
Video Storage & Editing,
Quiet, Reliable,
Great Auxiliary to Your
Primary SSD.
I am extremely happy with the 2TB drive. I avoided the 3TB drive because there are some reports about special modes used beyond 2TB that aren't as compatible as 2TB. So for me, even though 3TB can be only a little more, I preferred to rest assured with worry free compatibility of 2TB. For a fresh install of
Windows, the
BIOS (on my
Intel DZ68BC motherboard) and
Windows 7 64-bit OEM setup disk had no problem detecting, formatting, and using the drive. The drive is very fast being
SATA III (6G/s) with a large 64MB cache. Of course it isn't SSD, but for large files like videos, it has been stellar for me. It is quiet enough that
I never hear it unless I listen closely, doesn't heat up my case (according to the motherboard that monitors the case and reports via software), doesn't seem to eat up power in how I use it, and very fast. I do a lot of HD video storage, editing, and copying from my HD camcorder and it flies for me.
Now it isn't SSD. It still has moving parts, rotating platters, and is affected by seek times. But it superbly suited for storing and accessing large files like HD video, music, etc, that are contiguous blocks on the disk that it can just start reading fast without seeking. I recommend an SSD (like the Intel 510
Series 120 GB SSD that I love even more than this
HDD for operating system files and documents. With SSD, the computer boots fast, opens apps very fast (IE, FireFox, & MS WOrd are nearly instant), and opens documents very fast. But 120 GB is limited. So I use this 2TB HDD as a very fast large file storage for video, pictures, music, and archiving stuff. I think this HDD is a great compliment to my SSD.
The drive is OEM, and it really doesn't come with anything but the drive itself, no cables, no power adapters, no screws, or software. But you really should have everything you need already. Any
Sata cable should do (all should be the same). When purchased from and shipped by
Amazon, it seems very well protected. I didn't have any worries. I wouldn't worry about the bad
Vine review reports about broken drives from shipping which I suspect got shipments from a different facility that didn't know what they were doing with computer parts. I can attest I purchased from Amazon and am happy with the packaging from Amazon.
Product Title:
Seagate Barracuda 2 TB HDD
SATA 6 Gb/s
NCQ 64MB
Cache 3.5-Inch Internal
Bare Drive ST2000DM001
Model: ST2000DM001